Enlistee's art gallery!

[dlhenderson]

Yes, it's a perfect drawing of a red X!
Uh, not sure why you're not seeing it Chris...
Thanks, Illo. It's funny, but nobody ever seems to like this drawing much. There must be something that people find unpleasant. Most folks just look at it and seem at a loss. One lady at work saw it and proclaimed loudly that it was SATANIC! She was serious and not amused! I was shocked!
Anyway, the blue fabric was essentially a still life. I draped a sheet over a chair for reference. I sketched my own hand several times holding a broom. The rest crawled out of my warped cranium.

[markchro]

Dan's latest is showing up fine in Safari and Mozilla Firefox, but not in IE! It's more Dali than Satanic! And a wonderful exercise in fabric rendering.

Incredible work from Chris and Dan! I'm loving those blur effects and the Forbidden Planet artwork!

[markchro]

...Ironically, I've been in five volumes of Spectrum, Print Design Regional Annual, and a two page spread in Communication Arts, but I've never had a cover gig. I did a famous LP cover that I'm reluctant to reveal 'cause it sux (I did it literally in one sitting due to a ridiculous deadline).

Dan! I forgot to congratulate you on making it into the Spectrum book and several times! I know which album cover you worked on, but I was just wondering...did you have to follow a suggested subject or was it one of your own choice? And as I know you spend a long time on each masterpiece..one day's work would never be enough.

Thank you very much for posting all these amazing surreal and abstract pictures.

[dlhenderson]

OK, I'll take my medicine. This is the LP cover. I was told what to draw. If it had been up to me, it would have been a pterodactyl. And I would have allotted myself more that a few hours to get it done! I always found the back cover to be a bit more tolerable. Hopefully this will appear as a red X! It could only improve it! When I did the cover, the music was totally obscure. A few months later it won a slew of Grammy awards. It was bizarre to see this damn bird become so ubiquitous. One evening, while channel surfing, I came across The Cosby Show. The daughter in the show had a huge poster of this in her bedroom. I rolled my eyes and realized that the widest exposure I was ever likely to get would be in the form of a pink flamingo!

[markchro]

Thanks Dan! It must have been cool at the time to see your artwork turning up all over the place, as CC's career took off.

I see the record company even used a graphic based on your picture for Cross's Very Best Of CD.

I'd like to have seen a Pterodactyl version!

[ChrisW]

Markchro's right, I was able to see the image in Safari. I can see why it disturbs some people, the staring eye...or maybe it's the unibrow! It is interesting what people read into a piece. Beautiful rendering of the draped cloth. Does the eclipse have any significance?
So that's the infamous cover! Nope, no red "X"! Congrats, while it isn't your most evocative piece, it's still well done. I am at a loss to understand how something as important as a cover is left until the very last moment! But, maybe this is one where the AD had the right idea, Christopher Cross' music is decidedly un-pterodactyl-ly! Did you also do the faux-fern background?

Also, thanks Markchro!

[dlhenderson]

The faux-fern background was already done by the art director. i just did the work in the circular area. I still hate it. Oddly, a couple of years ago I did a presentation at DragonCon (showing slides of my work). I didn't show this piece. After the presentation, a guy approached me and pulled the LP out of his briefcase. Seems he collected autographed LP covers., so I signed it. He said something about driving up from Florida. Then he vanished. I was never able to understand how he even knew who I was or that I was the "Danny Henderson" credited on the inner sleeve. Strange.

[ChrisW]

The faux-fern background was already done by the art director. i just did the work in the circular area. I still hate it. Oddly, a couple of years ago I did a presentation at DragonCon (showing slides of my work). I didn't show this piece. After the presentation, a guy approached me and pulled the LP out of his briefcase. Seems he collected autographed LP covers., so I signed it. He said something about driving up from Florida. Then he vanished. I was never able to understand how he even knew who I was or that I was the "Danny Henderson" credited on the inner sleeve. Strange.

Great story. 
I have some covers out there (computer games) that I cringe at and will never show (of course, someone will post a picture of my absolute favorite and say, "Is this the one you hate? You're right, it stinks!") They usually were heavily art directed and had very short deadlines.
Any way, [Monty Python] And now for something completelty different.[/Monty Python]  I've done a number of wildlife pieces and have won a few conservation stamp contests. This was an entry for the Federal Duck Stamp contest that was in the top 25. Sorry about the moire pattern, this was scanned from a print, the original already having been sold.


An interesting sidenote, Basil Gogos also entered the Federal Duck Stamp Contest and was also a top 25 finisher. We talked about it one time at a convention.

[dlhenderson]

Lovely piece, Chris. Coincidentally, I just showed a powerpoint to my class today which included Basil's work, and I started it off with his duck stamp (!). I love Basil, but I think your duck is better.

[ChrisW]

Lovely piece, Chris. Coincidentally, I just showed a powerpoint to my class today which included Basil's work, and I started it off with his duck stamp (!). I love Basil, but I think your duck is better.

Thanks, and what a funny coincidence! His work was more dramatic farther away,  but his loose style was his undoing. The judges, for better or worse, always tend towards tightly rendered pieces.
That must be a great  class, when Basil is discussed! Is it art or illustration?

Here's another piece. It didn't win any awards, but it is one of my favorites. It's actually one of the few pieces that turned out the way I pictured it in my head. Again, scanned from a print.

[Illoman]

Chris, both of these are gorgeous!! Oils or acrylics? Did you work from your own photos or did they supply them? Great rendering of the grasses...

[ChrisW]

Chris, both of these are gorgeous!! Oils or acrylics? Did you work from your own photos or did they supply them? Great rendering of the grasses...

Thanks Mike.
Acrylics. 
The goose is based on a photo I took one morning. 
I had taken a photo of the male bufflehead (the one in the front) but the lighting was different. I didn't have a photo of the female so I looked up patterns pics in reference books and "built" her. For the grass I went out to a local stream and took some reference shots. The lighting was created on the fly. That's one reason why I'm pretty happy with it, the composition and lighting matched my vision and was not copied from a photo.

[dlhenderson]

Bravo on the ducks!
The class I mentioned is a "summer studio" for high school seniors. They do this every year at the college where I teach. It's basically an intro to the illustration program. I always throw lots of history into my classes, especially things that are off-the-beaten-path. I touch on Rockwell and Leyedecker, but I also devote time to Wolverton, Wood, Giger, Camille Rose Garcia, Szukalski; whatever I find interesting. I was chair of the department (for seven years) until last fall, when i was laid off. The company reorganized and they consolidated the illustration program with the graphic design department. After a quarter, they asked me back part-time with no benefits, the bastards.

[ChrisW]

Bravo on the ducks!
The class I mentioned is a "summer studio" for high school seniors. They do this every year at the college where I teach. It's basically an intro to the illustration program. I always throw lots of history into my classes, especially things that are off-the-beaten-path. I touch on Rockwell and Leyedecker, but I also devote time to Wolverton, Wood, Giger, Camille Rose Garcia, Szukalski; whatever I find interesting. I was chair of the department (for seven years) until last fall, when i was laid off. The company reorganized and they consolidated the illustration program with the graphic design department. After a quarter, they asked me back part-time with no benefits, the bastards.

Jeez, lousy deal for you. Who chairs the department now? I'm confused when you say "the company" reorganized. I guess I don't understand how a college is set up, after 7 years as chair you would have been vested , your tenure being irrevocable.
By the way, wasn't familiar with Camille Rose Garcia, very interesting work.

[Monolith]

Chris--- nice ducks!

dlhenderson--- I never listened to Christopher Cross but I remember when that LP came out and I saw your flamingo everywhere. Yeah, a pteradactyl
would've been cooler, but still that flamingo is iconic! great stuff.